Other Boys @ SOB Cup – Matchday Preview

It may only be a friendly pre-season tournament, but it’s the first competitive outing for Stegman’s Other Boys. There is so much anticipation around this team, but it will be a baptism in fire as their first opponent is Division One champions Blast FC.

“We have a good mix of proven players, original SOBs” said the captain Gary Erzberger “guys like Graham Campbell, Alex Haueter, Derric Johnson and others and we have supplemented them with midfield of guile and invention with new signings like Sebastian Castro-Malaspina, Al Vo and Nathan Crowe. We’ll be a tough team to beat.”

It doesn’t get much easier after the first game for the Other Boys, as there second game sees them facing Division One stalwarts Valencia.

“Valencia are a team that has played together for some years” said Chairman Dan Hoedeman, himself a former Valencia player “I know those guys well, know the quality that they have and know that the Other Boys are going to have their hands full. That said, no SOB that I know will be any sort of shirking violet!”

The Other Boys have a major absence due to injury of club top scorer Dave Tesch, who is rehabbing a partial tear of his ACL. Beyond that, the injury list is relatively clear, though there are new signings to be made before the close of the transfer window.

Erzberger continued “we have our eye on a few players, as many as four, that we want to bring into the club. We will have one, Tim Ebertt, on trial with us at the tournament, in fact. So it’s not the full-strength Other Boys side, but we’ll be dangerous.”

Results across the board will determine the third opponent of the day, with Warlocks, Dynamo Eden Prairie and a potential dream match-up against Stegman’s Old Boys all possibilities.